As "Falling Skies" closes out its second season Sunday, the 2nd Mass already has discovered that Charleston isn't the new home they had hoped it would be. But that may not be worst problem the freedom fighters face.

"I guess we can just say that characters turn in many directions, and that there's always something new lying ahead," Jessy Schram, who plays human-turned-alien-mouthpiece Karen, told me last week. "The finale definitely brings so many different stories [together] and leaves you in this place of like, 'What the hell?'"

"A More Perfect Union" premieres at 8 p.m. Aug. 19 on TNT, the same week cast and crew are scheduled to return to Vancouver to begin work on the third season. The finale sets up another epic cliffhanger or three with an intense battle scene and a big surprise--that "something new lying ahead" Schram mentioned.

You don't want to miss the final five minutes, as one of the previews below teases.

As far as Karen goes, Schram, who grew up in Buffalo Grove, was reluctant to give too much away, except to say that yes, she does return in the finale. "We just don't know what to expect with her ... She's just so deceptive," she said.

I'll have more from Schram after the episode airs tonight. She is currently filming her new series, "Last Resort," in Hawaii.